Determining Battery Status of a Portable Electronic Device - Patent application

Abstract

A method for use in determining a battery state of a portable electronic device includes receiving, at a server, portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device and receiving, at the server, information associated with each of a plurality of candidate methods, where each candidate method is configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method representing a battery state of the portable electronic device. The method further includes determining whether any of the candidate methods are capable of determining a corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and the information associated with each candidate method, and, in response to determining that one or more of the candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, performing one or more of the possible methods to thereby determine the one or more corresponding battery state values. The method may be suitable for use in determining a battery state of a portable electronic device, and may be particularly, but not exclusively, suitable for use in determining a battery state of a portable electronic device equipped with or running the Android® operating system.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for use in determining the battery status of portable electronic devices, and in particular, but not exclusively, to methods and systems for use in determining the battery status of portable electronic devices that include or run the Android operating system. The present disclosure also relates to servers, computer programs, and apps associated with the methods and systems. [Background technology]

[0002] Portable devices are typically powered by electrochemical batteries, which consist of two metal electrodes enclosed within a volume filled with an electrolyte that allows charge carriers to move between the electrodes. When batteries are charged and discharged, they are subject to wear, for example, by unwanted chemical reactions, physical wear and drying of the electrolyte. This wear is gradual and may not be noticeable to the user of the portable device until the battery has reached the end of its useful life. It would therefore be advantageous, for example, for a buyer of a second-hand portable device, to be able to reliably estimate the useful life of the battery in that second-hand portable device.

[0003] It is known to estimate the battery life of a portable electronic device based on the battery status of the portable electronic device. It is also known to estimate the battery status of a portable electronic device by using a dedicated app on the portable electronic device to collect new battery performance data while draining and charging the battery in daily use, and estimating the battery status of the portable electronic device from the collected battery performance data.

[0004] However, there is no single "quick" method of estimating battery status that is suitable for all different kinds of mobile electronic devices and does not require running a dedicated app on the portable electronic device to collect battery performance data. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] It should be understood that any one or more of the features of any one or more of the following aspects may be combined with any one or more of the features of any one or more of the other following aspects.

[0006] In accordance with at least one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for use in determining a state of a battery in a portable electronic device, comprising: receiving, at a server, portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; receiving, at a server, information relating to each of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method representing a state of a battery of the portable electronic device; determining whether any of the candidate methods are capable of determining a corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and information associated with each candidate method; In response to determining that one or more of the candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, a method is provided that includes performing one or more of the possible methods to thereby determine one or more corresponding battery state values.

[0007] Such a method may enable the state of the battery in a portable electronic device to be determined without the need to collect or measure a new set of battery performance data, for example using a dedicated app.

[0008] The portable electronic device data may include at least one of the manufacturer, model, operating system (OS), and OS version of the portable electronic device.

[0009] The battery data stored on and readily available from any portable electronic device may depend on at least one of the manufacturer, model, OS, and OS version of the portable electronic device. Thus, by providing at least one of the manufacturer, model, OS, and OS version of the portable electronic device to a server, the server may be able to determine the type of battery data stored on and readily available from the portable electronic device.

[0010] The method may provide the most accurate results for the condition of a battery on a portable electronic device by selecting and executing an optimal or appropriate method for determining the condition of the battery on the portable electronic device. The method may be specific to the manufacturer, model, OS, and OS version of the portable electronic device.

[0011] The portable electronic device may be equipped with or run an Android® operating system, such as Android® Marshmallow version 6.0-6.0.1, Android® Nougat version 7.0-7.1.2, Android® Oreo version 8.0-8.1, or Android® P version 9.

[0012] The portable electronic device data may include data related to a battery of the portable electronic device.

[0013] Portable electronic device data is based on the battery design capacity Q des may include:

[0014] The portable electronic device data may include the make and / or model of the battery of the portable electronic device.

[0015] The portable electronic device data may include historical battery performance data, which may be readily available on the portable electronic device.

[0016] The method may include extracting the portable electronic device data from data stored on the portable electronic device.

[0017] The method may include extracting historical battery performance data from data stored on the portable electronic device.

[0018] The method may include extracting the battery performance history data from a battery cycle information file stored on the portable electronic device.

[0019] The method may include extracting the battery performance history data from a battery statistics log file stored on the portable electronic device.

[0020] The battery statistics log file may be output from the batterystats service of the dumpsys tool running on the portable electronic device.

[0021] The method may include running an app on the portable electronic device to extract the portable electronic device data from data stored on the portable electronic device.

[0022] The app may include extracting portable electronic device data via an application programming interface (API).

[0023] The method may include transmitting the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device to a server.

[0024] The method may include running an app on the portable electronic device to transmit portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device to a server.

[0025] The information associated with each candidate method may include a set of instructions for performing each candidate method.

[0026] Performing one or more of the possible ways may include executing a corresponding set of instructions that perform each one or more of the possible ways.

[0027] The information associated with each candidate method may include an indication of the type of each candidate method, or an indication of the types of one or more input parameters associated with each candidate method.

[0028] The method may include receiving a set of instructions to perform each of the possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and an indication of the types of possible methods, or based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and an indication of the types of one or more input parameters associated with the possible methods. Such a method may require the server to receive only a set of instructions to perform each of the possible methods, thereby avoiding any need for the server to receive a set of instructions to perform all of the candidate methods.

[0029] The information associated with each candidate method may include a corresponding battery condition threshold. The method may include comparing each determined battery condition value to the corresponding battery condition threshold. The method may include determining whether the battery condition is compliant or non-compliant with a predetermined battery condition test according to a result of the comparison.

[0030] Battery condition values ​​determined using two or more of the candidate methods may relate to different quantities each representative of the condition of the battery of the portable electronic device.

[0031] One or more of the battery status values ​​may be The battery cycle count value of the battery, The ratio of the battery's current or actual charge capacity to the battery's design charge capacity, expressed as a percentage or as a fraction; The percentage or fractional value of the battery's remaining life, The percentage or fractional value of the battery's lifespan that has elapsed, or It may also include the current or actual wear value of the battery, expressed as a percentage or as a fractional value.

[0032] The method comprises: transmitting instructions from the server to the portable electronic device to perform each one or more of the possible methods; and executing, on the portable electronic device, instructions for performing each one or more of the possible methods.

[0033] The method may include transmitting each determined battery condition value from the portable electronic device to a server.

[0034] The method may include transmitting each determined battery state value from the portable electronic device to a further server. The further server may, for example, store each determined battery state value for the portable electronic device and one or more determined battery state values ​​for one or more other portable electronic devices. The further server may, for example, include a reporting server, etc.

[0035] The method comprises: executing instructions at the server to perform each one or more of the possible methods; and transmitting the determined one or more corresponding battery condition values ​​from the server to the portable electronic device.

[0036] The method comprises: executing, at the server, a portion of instructions for performing each one or more of the possible methods; and executing, on a portable electronic device, a portion of the instructions for performing each one or more of the possible methods.

[0037] The method may include selecting an optimal one of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and information associated with each candidate method, and performing the optimal method, thereby determining a corresponding battery status value, wherein the battery status value determined using the optimal one of the one or more possible methods is found to provide a more accurate representation of the state of the battery of the portable electronic device than a battery status value determined using any other one of the possible methods.

[0038] The method comprises: transmitting instructions from the server to the portable electronic device to perform an optimal one of the one or more possible methods; and executing instructions in the portable electronic device to perform an optimal one of one or more possible methods.

[0039] Receiving information associated with each of the plurality of candidate methods may include storing information associated with each candidate method on a server.

[0040] Receiving information associated with each candidate method of the plurality of candidate methods may include fetching information associated with each candidate method from a database to a server.

[0041] The method may include updating or modifying information in the database associated with one or more of the candidate methods. Updating or modifying information in the database associated with one or more of the candidate methods may enable improving accuracy of the determined battery condition.

[0042] The method may include storing information associated with one or more additional candidate methods in a database, each additional candidate method configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method representing a state of the battery of the portable electronic device. Such a method may enable improving accuracy of the determined battery state estimate by allowing input of one or more additional candidate methods, each additional candidate method configured to determine a corresponding battery state value.

[0043] The information relating to the one or more additional candidate methods may include instructions for performing the one or more additional candidate methods.

[0044] The method may include making each determined battery condition value available to the portable electronic device. The method may include displaying each determined battery condition value on the portable electronic device. The battery performance history data may include a battery cycle count value representative of a number of full discharge / charge cycles associated with a battery of the portable electronic device. The method may include returning the battery cycle count value as at least one of the determined battery condition values. The battery performance history data may include battery charging history data, and the method may include determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery charging history data. The battery charging history data may include time information and battery charging status information. The method may include using the time information and the battery charging status information to identify one or more battery charging intervals during which the battery was charged.

[0045] The battery charging history data may include a plurality of battery charging history data points for each battery charging interval, with each battery charging history data point including time information, battery charging current information, and battery charging information.

[0046] The time information may include a relative time value or a timestamp.

[0047] The battery charging current information may include a value of the charging current supplied to the battery.

[0048] Battery charge information shows the current or actual capacity of the battery, Q act the current or actual capacity of the battery, Q, expressed as a fraction or as a percentage act may include fractional values.

[0049] The method may include identifying one or more battery charging ranges in each of the one or more battery charging intervals.

[0050] The method involves determining the current or actual charge capacity Q of the battery. act The estimated value of Q act (k) for each battery charging range, where k is the current or actual capacity Q act are indices assigned to each battery charge range according to the numerical order in which the fractional values ​​occur.

[0051] The method includes: calculating an estimate of the current or actual capacity of the battery, Q, for the entire range of battery charges; act The current or actual capacity of the battery, Q, is calculated by averaging (k) according to the following formula: act where N k is the total battery charging range.

[0052]

number

[0053] The method involves determining the current or actual capacity Q of the battery. act The method may include determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery condition.

[0054] The method further comprises determining a ratio Q act / Q des And percentage 100×Q act / Q des And, W p =100×(1-Q act / Q des ) the percentage wear value W p And, W f =1-Q act / Q des The fractional wear value W obtained according to f and returning one or more of the quantities:

[0055] The battery performance history data may include battery depletion history data. The method may include determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery depletion history data.

[0056] The battery depletion history data may include a lower limit min(ΣΔQ) of the cumulative charge consumed over the depletion period and an upper limit max(ΣΔQ) of the cumulative charge consumed over the depletion period. The lower limit min(ΣΔQ) of the cumulative charge consumed over the depletion period may be a lower limit value of the actual depletion parameter extracted from the battery statistics log file, and the upper limit max(ΣΔQ) of the cumulative charge consumed over the depletion period may be an upper limit value of the actual depletion parameter extracted from the battery statistics log file. The depletion period may be defined as the time period elapsed since the last full charge of the battery of the portable electronic device.

[0057] The method may include determining an average value avg(ΣΔQ) of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period according to avg(ΣΔQ)=½·[min(ΣΔQ)+max(ΣQΔ)].

[0058] The battery depletion history data may include a cumulative charge percentage decay ΣΔp over the depletion period, and the method further comprises: act A, Q act=avg(ΣΔQ)×100 / ΣΔp.

[0059] The cumulative charge percentage degradation over the depletion period, ΣΔp, may be an upper limit parameter extracted from the battery statistics log file.

[0060] The battery depletion history data may include a cumulative charge fractional depletion ΣΔf over the depletion period, and the method further comprises: act A, Q act =avg(ΣΔQ) / ΣΔf.

[0061] The method involves determining the current or actual capacity Q of the battery. act The method may include determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery condition.

[0062] The method further comprises determining a ratio Q act / Q des And percentage 100×Q act / Q des And, W p =100×(1-Q act / Q des ) the percentage wear value W p And, W f =1-Q act / Q des The fractional wear value W obtained according to f and returning one or more of the quantities:

[0063] According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, an app is provided that, when executed on a portable electronic device, causes the method to be performed as described above.

[0064] In accordance with at least one aspect of the present disclosure, instructions for a server for use in determining a state of a battery of a portable electronic device, the instructions, when executed by a processing resource of the server, cause the server to: Receiving portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; receiving information relating to each of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method representing a state of a battery for the portable electronic device; determining whether any of the candidate methods are capable of determining a corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and information associated with each candidate method; in response to determining that one or more of the candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, causing one or more of the possible methods to be performed to thereby determine the one or more corresponding battery state values; An instruction is provided to cause

[0065] In accordance with at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a server for use in determining a state of a battery of a portable electronic device, the server comprising: a processing resource; and, when executed by the processing resource, causing the processing resource to: Receiving portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; receiving information relating to each of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method representing a state of a battery for the portable electronic device; determining whether any of the candidate methods are capable of determining a corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and information associated with each candidate method; in response to determining that one or more of the candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, causing one or more of the possible methods to be performed to thereby determine the one or more corresponding battery state values; and a memory containing instructions to cause the server to:

[0066] According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided that includes a server and a database that stores information associated with each of a plurality of candidate methods, wherein instructions, when executed by a processing resource of the server, cause the processing resource of the server to fetch information associated with each of the plurality of candidate methods from the database.

[0067] It should be understood that any one or more features of any one or more of the above embodiments may be combined with any one or more features of any one or more of the other above embodiments.

[0068] Methods and systems for use in determining the state of a battery in a portable electronic device will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the following drawings: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0069] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device and a system for use in determining the state of a battery of the portable electronic device; [Diagram 2] 2 is a typical example of battery charging history data stored in a battery statistics log file of the portable electronic device of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 2 is a typical example of battery depletion history data stored in a battery statistics log file of the portable electronic device of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for use in determining the state of a battery in the portable electronic device of FIG. 1. [Diagram 5] 2 illustrates how battery charge history data can be used to determine a battery condition value for the portable electronic device of FIG. 1. [Figure 6] Step 208 of the method of FIG. 5 is shown in more detail. [Figure 7] Here is an example of two overlapping battery charging intervals in a battery statistics log file. [Figure 8A]2 shows pseudocode instructions for selecting an optimal method to use in determining the state of the battery in the portable electronic device of FIG. 1. [Figure 8B] FIG. 11 illustrates pseudocode instructions for comparing a determined battery condition value with a corresponding battery condition threshold to determine whether the battery condition complies or does not comply with a predetermined battery condition test. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0070] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the features of the embodiments described below with reference to the drawings may produce effects or provide advantages when used separately from one or more of the other features of the embodiments, and that different combinations of features other than the specific combinations of features of the embodiments described below are possible.

[0071] Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown a portable electronic device, generally designated 2, and a system, generally designated 20, for use in determining the state of a battery in the portable electronic device 2.

[0072] The portable electronic device 2 includes a battery 4, a memory 6, processing resources 8, and a user interface 10. The memory 6 stores an operating system in the form of an Android® operating system 12, and portable electronic device data 14. The portable electronic device data 14 includes at least one of a manufacturer, a model, and a version of the Android® operating system 12 of the portable electronic device 2. The portable electronic device data further includes data related to the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2. In particular, the portable electronic device data 14 further includes historical battery performance data regarding the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2 in the form of a battery cycle information file and a battery statistics log file stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2. The battery statistics log file may be output from a batterystats service of a dumpsys tool running on the portable electronic device 2. The portable electronic device data 14 may further include a manufacturer and / or model of the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2.

[0073] The battery cycle information file includes a battery cycle count value that represents the number of full discharge / charge cycles associated with the battery 4 .

[0074] FIG. 2 illustrates the format of a battery statistics log file that contains battery charging history data in the form of a first set of battery charging history data points corresponding to a first battery charging interval 101 and a second set of battery charging history data points corresponding to a second battery charging interval 102.

[0075] Each battery charging history data point in the first battery charging leg 101 consists of time information and corresponding battery charging current and battery charging information. The time information includes a date and a time in hours, minutes, and seconds, t start1 ,...t j ,...t finish1 The battery charging current information is in the form of a relative time value or time stamp, represented asstart1 ,...t j ,...t finish1 The absolute value of the charging current supplied to each battery in mA is I start1 ,...I j ,...I finish1 The battery charge information is start1 ,...t j ,...t finish1 The actual charge capacity Q of the battery at act The actual charge capacity of the battery, Q, expressed as a fraction or percentage, respectively. act The fractional value of q start1 ,...q j ,...q finish1 It consists of:

[0076] Similarly, each battery charging history data point in the second battery charging leg 102 consists of time information and corresponding battery charging current and battery charging information. The time information includes a date and a time in hours, minutes, and seconds, t start2 ,...t j ,...t finish2 The battery charging current information is in the form of a relative time value or time stamp represented as start2 ,...t j ,...t finish2 The absolute value of the charging current supplied to each battery is expressed in mA. start2 ,...I j ,...I finish2 The battery charge information is start2 ,...t j ,...t finish2 The actual charge capacity Q of the battery at act The actual charge capacity of the battery, Q, expressed as a fraction or percentage, respectively. act The fractional value of q start2 ,...q j ,...q finish2 It consists of:

[0077] The battery statistics log file also includes battery charging status information, such as battery charging status flags 110, 112 indicating when battery charging began and battery charging status flags 120, 122 indicating when battery charging ended.

[0078] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that an actual battery statistics log file may include other information not shown in FIG. 2 and that an actual battery statistics log file may present the battery charging history data in a format different than that shown in FIG. 2.

[0079] 3 illustrates an example of a further portion of a battery statistics log file that includes battery depletion history data. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the battery depletion history data includes the design capacity value Q of battery 4. des This value is expressed in mAh and is identified in FIG. 3 using the label “Capacity.” For the particular data shown in FIG. 3, the design capacity Q of battery 4 is desis 2700 mAh. The battery depletion history data also includes a range of values ​​of the accumulated charge consumed by the battery 4 over a depletion period identified in FIG. 3 using the label "actual depletion", where the depletion period is defined as the period of time that has elapsed since the last full charge of the battery 4. Specifically, the range of values ​​of the accumulated charge consumed by the battery 4 over the depletion period includes a lower limit min(ΣΔQ) expressed in mAh and an upper limit max(ΣΔQ) expressed in mAh. For the particular data shown in FIG. 3, min(ΣΔQ)=4887 mAh and max(ΣΔQ)=5427 mAh. The battery depletion history data further includes a cumulative charge percentage drop ΣΔp over the depletion period identified in FIG. 3 using the label "discharge amount (upper limit)". Here, each charge drop percentage Δp is expressed as a charge drop percentage relative to a full charge of the battery. For example, if during a depletion period the charge percentage of battery 4 drops from 100% to 20% (i.e., a drop percentage of 80%), the battery is charged such that the charge percentage of battery 4 increases from 20% to 70%, and then if the charge percentage of battery 4 drops from 70% to 30% (i.e., a drop percentage of 40%), then the cumulative charge percentage drop ΣΔp during the depletion period is 120%. For the particular data shown in FIG. 3, the cumulative charge percentage drop ΣΔp over the depletion period is 201%.

[0080] Those skilled in the art will generally understand that the battery depletion history data values ​​in a battery statistics log file may differ from the specific battery depletion history data values ​​shown in FIG. 3, that the battery statistics log file may include other information not shown in FIG. 3, and that the battery statistics log file may present the battery depletion history data in a format different than that shown in FIG. 3.

[0081] Returning to FIG. 1, the memory 6 also stores an app 16 configured to determine a battery status value representative of the status of the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0082] The system 20 includes a battery profiler cloud 22 including a server in the form of a battery profiler server 24 and a database in the form of a battery profiler database 26. The battery profiler server 24 includes processing resources 24a and a memory 24b containing instructions that, when executed by the processing resources 24a, cause the processing resources 24a to perform various operations, as described in more detail below. The battery profiler database 26 stores information relating to each candidate method of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the corresponding battery state value representing the state of the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2. The battery condition value may be, for example, a battery cycle count value of the battery 4, a ratio of the current or actual charge capacity of the battery 4 to the design charge capacity of the battery 4 expressed as a percentage or a fractional value, a percentage of the life remaining of the battery 4 expressed as a percentage or a fractional value, a percentage of the life elapsed of the battery 4 expressed as a percentage or a fractional value, or a current or actual wear value of the battery 4 expressed as a percentage or a fractional value. The information associated with each candidate method may include instructions for performing the candidate method and a battery condition threshold value corresponding to the candidate method. Battery profiler server 24 is configured for bidirectional communication with portable electronic device 2 and for bidirectional communication with battery profiler database 26.

[0083] 4, a method, generally designated 50, for use in determining the condition of a battery 4 of a portable electronic device 2 is shown. The method 50 begins with a user of the portable electronic device 2 running the app 16 at step 52. Running the app 16 causes the app 16 to extract at least a portion of the portable electronic device data 14 from the portable electronic device 2 via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) and transmit at least a portion of the portable electronic device data 14 from the portable electronic device 2 to the battery profiler server 24 at step 54. Specifically, the app 16 extracts at least one of the manufacturer, model, and version of the Android® operating system 12 of the portable electronic device 2 from the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 and transmits at least one of the manufacturer, model, and operating system of the portable electronic device 2 to the battery profiler server 24 at step 54.

[0084] At step 56, the method continues with processing resources 24a of battery profiler server 24 fetching information associated with each candidate method of a plurality of candidate methods for which a corresponding battery state value is configured to be determined from battery profiler database 26. Specifically, processing resources 24a of battery profiler server 24 fetches instructions from battery profiler database 26 for performing each of the candidate methods stored in battery profiler database 26.

[0085] At step 58, the method continues with the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 determining whether any of the candidate methods are capable of determining a corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data 14 and the information associated with each candidate method. Specifically, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 identify a set of input parameters required by instructions for performing each of the candidate methods stored in the battery profiler database 26, and compare the set of input parameters required for each of the candidate methods with a set of parameter values ​​known to be stored in memory of any portable electronic device having the same make, model, and version of the Android operating system as the portable electronic device 2. If the set of input parameters required for any of the candidate methods matches a set of parameter values ​​known to be stored in memory of any portable electronic device having the same make, model, and version of the Android operating system as the portable electronic device 2, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 identify that candidate method as a method capable of determining a corresponding battery state value for the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2 based on historical battery performance data that must be stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2. In the specific example of a portable electronic device 2, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 use at least one of the manufacturer, model, and version of the Android® operating system of the portable electronic device 2 to determine that the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 must have battery performance history data in the form of a battery cycle information file specifying battery cycle count values ​​and a battery statistics log file containing both battery charging history data and battery depletion history data, as described with reference to Figures 1-3.Next, as a result of step 58, the processing resource 24a of the battery profiler server 24 identifies three candidate methods, each capable of determining a battery state value corresponding to the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2, from the plurality of methods stored in the battery profiler database 26: a battery cycle method that determines a battery cycle count as a corresponding battery state value, a battery charging method that determines a corresponding battery state value based on the current or actual charge capacity of the battery obtained from the battery charging history data, and a battery depletion method that determines a corresponding battery state value based on the current or actual charge capacity of the battery obtained from the battery depletion history data. Each of these three possible methods is described in detail below.

[0086] In response to the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 determining that one or more of the candidate methods are capable of determining the corresponding battery state value, the method continues at step 60 with the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 sending instructions to the portable electronic device 2 to perform one or more of the possible methods. The app 16 then causes the processing resources 8 to perform one or more of the possible methods to thereby determine the one or more corresponding battery state values ​​at step 62.

[0087] For example, when the processing resource 8 performs a battery cycle method, the processing resource 8 simply searches for a battery cycle count value stored in a battery cycle information file in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 and returns the battery cycle count value as at least one of the determined battery condition values.

[0088] When the processing resource 8 performs the battery charging method, the processing resource 8 performs the method 200 described with reference to Figures 5-7. The method 200 starts at step 202 when the processing resource 8 determines the design capacity Q of the battery 4 from a battery statistics log file stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2. des It starts with accessing.

[0089] The method continues at step 206 with the processing resource 8 using the battery charging status flags 110, 112, 120, 122 to identify one or more battery charging intervals during which the battery 4 has been charged.

[0090] As will be described in more detail below, the method continues at step 208 with the processing resource 8 identifying one or more battery charge ranges in each of the one or more battery charging intervals and calculating the actual charge capacity Q of the battery. act The estimated value of Q act (k) is calculated for each battery charge range, where k is the actual capacity of the battery in each battery charge range, Q act are indices assigned to each battery charge range according to the numerical order in which the fractional values ​​occur.

[0091] In step 210, the processing resource 8 calculates an estimate Q of the actual capacity of the battery 4 for all of the battery charging ranges. act The actual capacity Q of battery 4 is calculated by averaging (k) according to the following formula: act Estimate.

[0092]

number

[0093] Here, N k is the total number of battery charging ranges. The charging behavior of the battery in a portable electronic device is generally nonlinear, and the measurement accuracy of the battery charging information may differ from the actual capacity Q of the battery 4. act It is known that the actual capacity of the battery 4 can vary over a whole range of fractional values ​​of Q act By averaging (k) over the entire battery charging range, the actual capacity Q act The accuracy of the battery charge information can be averaged or reduced over the entire range of fractional values ​​of Q actIt is also possible that the accuracy of the measurement of the battery charge information may vary depending on the usage of the portable electronic device 2 during charging. In this way, the estimate Q of the actual capacity of the battery 4 can be improved. act Averaging (k) over the battery charge range also helps to take into account any variations in the measurement accuracy of the battery charge information due to the usage of the portable electronic device 2 during charging, thereby estimating the actual capacity Q act This could help improve the accuracy of estimates of

[0094] At step 212, the processing resource 8 determines as one or more of the battery condition values: Ratio Q act / Q des and, Percentage 100 x Q act / Q des and, W p =100×(1-Q act / Q des ) the percentage wear value W p and, W f =1-Q act / Q des The fractional wear value W obtained according to f and, Returns one or more of the quantities in .

[0095] Step 208 of the method of FIG. 5 will now be described with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. In step 220, the processing resource 8 identifies any common battery charging ranges and any specific battery charging ranges. Specifically, the processing resource 8: Actual capacity Q of battery 4 in one charging section act The fractional value of the actual capacity Q of battery 4 during any one or more of the other battery charging intervals act Identify any common battery charge ranges that overlap with the fractional value of Actual capacity Q of battery 4 in one charging section act None of the fractional values ​​of Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15, Q16, Q17, Q18, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q30, Q40, Q50, Q60, Q70, Q80, Q90, Q19, Q10, Q11, Q12, Qact Identify any unique battery charge range that does not overlap with any fractional value of

[0096] For example, referring to FIG. 7, there are two overlapping battery charging intervals, i.e., the actual capacity Q act The first battery charging interval, where the fractional value of Q ranges from 0% to 60%, and the actual capacity of the battery, Q act and a second battery charging interval in which the fractional value of ranges from 30% to 90%. The processing resource 8 therefore identifies three battery charging ranges: i. Actual capacity of the battery Q act A first battery charging range, i.e., battery charging range 1, in which the fractional value of ii. Actual capacity of the battery Q act A second battery charging range, i.e., battery charging range 2, in which the fractional value of is in the range of 30% to 60% and is common to the first and second battery charging intervals. iii. Actual capacity of the battery Q act A third battery charging range, i.e., battery charging range 3, in which the fractional value of is in the range of 60% to 90% and is specific to the second battery charging interval.

[0097] Returning to FIG. 6 , the method continues in step 222 with the processing resource 8 computing an estimate Q act (i, k) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0098]

number

[0099] Here, p initial(i,k) is the initial fractional value of the actual capacity of the battery at the beginning of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, expressed as a percentage; p final (i,k) is the final fractional value of the actual capacity of the battery at the end of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, expressed as a percentage; ΔQ(i,k) is the total charge delivered to the battery over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0100] 7, there is only one common battery charging range, namely battery charging range 2, and two battery charging intervals, namely the first and second battery charging intervals. Thus, as a result of step 222, the processing resource 8 determines: p initial (1,2)=30 and p final (1,2)=60 p initial (2,2)=30 and p final (2,2)=60 In addition, the processing resource 8 determines, for each common battery charging range (e.g., battery charging range 2 in FIG. 7) and for each battery charging interval in which the common battery charging range is common (e.g., the first and second battery charging intervals in FIG. 7), the total charge ΔQ(i,k) supplied to the battery 4 over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval according to the following:

[0101]

number

[0102] Here, I avg (i,k) is the average battery charging current supplied to battery 4 over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, and T(i,k) is the duration of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, calculated according to the following equation:

[0103]

number

[0104] Here, t initial (i,k) is the relative time value or time stamp corresponding to the first battery charging data point of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, and t final (i,k) is the relative time value or timestamp that corresponds to the last battery charge data point of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0105] 7, there is only one common battery charging range, namely battery charging range 2. Thus, for the example shown in FIG.

[0106]

number

[0107]

number

[0108] Where: I avg (1,2) is the average current determined for battery charging range 2 from the battery charging data in the first battery charging interval, T(1,2) is the duration associated with battery charging range 2 from the time data in the first battery charging interval; I avg (2,2) is the average current determined for battery charging range 2 from the battery charging data in the second battery charging interval, T(2,2) is the duration associated with battery charging range 2 from the time data in the second battery charging interval. The processing resource 8 calculates, for each common battery charging range and for each battery charging interval in which the common battery charging range is common, an average battery charging current I supplied to the battery 4 over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval. avg (i, k) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0109]

number

[0110] Here, I j is the battery charging current delivered to the battery corresponding to the j-th battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i,k indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all the battery charging history data points of the k-th battery charging range in the i-th battery charging interval, and N j (i,k) is the total number of battery charging history data points for the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0111] In the example shown in FIG. 7, there is only one common battery charging range, i.e., battery charging range 2, and two battery charging intervals, i.e., the first and second battery charging intervals. The processing resource 8 calculates the average battery charging current I avg (1,2) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0112]

number

[0113] Here, I j is the battery charging current supplied to the battery corresponding to the jth battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i=1,k=2 indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all battery charging history data points in the battery charging range 2 in the first battery charging interval, and N j(1,2) is the total number of battery charging history data points in battery charging range 2 in the first battery charging interval.

[0114] Similarly, the processing resource 8 calculates the average battery charging current I supplied to the battery over the battery charging range 2 in the second battery charging interval. avg (1,2) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0115]

number

[0116] Here, I j is the battery charging current supplied to the battery corresponding to the jth battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i=2,k=2 indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all battery charging history data points of battery charging range 2 in the second battery charging interval, and N j (2,2) is the total number of battery charging history data points in battery charging range 2 in the second battery charging interval.

[0117] As shown in FIG. 6 , the method continues in step 224 by the processing resource 8 calculating the actual capacity Q act An improved estimate of Q act (k) over each battery charging interval that shares a common battery charging range to provide an estimate Q act The average value of (i, k) is calculated for each common battery charging section according to the following formula.

[0118]

number

[0119] where ∀i∈i com indicates that the summation must be performed over all battery charging intervals in which the kth battery charging range is common, and N icom(k) is the number of battery charging intervals that have the kth battery charging range in common. In this manner, averaging the estimate of the actual capacity of the battery 4 over each battery charging interval that has each common battery charging range in common may help to take into account any variations in the usage of the portable electronic device during charging at the common battery charging range in different battery charging intervals, thereby helping to improve the accuracy of the estimate of the actual capacity of the battery 4.

[0120] In the example shown in FIG. 7, there is only one common battery charging range, i.e., battery charging range 2, and two battery charging intervals. Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 7, in step 224, the processing resource 8 calculates the estimated value Q act (1,2) and Q act Simply average (2,2) to get an estimate of the actual capacity of the battery for battery charging range 2.

[0121]

number

[0122] In this way, averaging the estimate of the actual capacity of the battery 4 over the battery charging range of different battery charging intervals may help to take into account any variability in the usage of the portable electronic device 2 during charging, and thereby help to improve the accuracy of the estimate of the actual capacity of the battery 4.

[0123] In step 226 of FIG. 6, the processing resource 8 calculates an estimate of the actual capacity of the battery, Q act (k) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0124]

number

[0125] Here, p initial(i,k) is the initial fractional value of the actual capacity of battery 4 at the beginning of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, expressed as a percentage; p final (i,k) is the final fractional value of the actual capacity of battery 4 at the end of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, expressed as a percentage; ΔQ(i,k) is the total charge delivered to the battery over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0126] 7, there are two specific battery charging ranges: battery charging ranges 1 and 3. Thus, as a result of step 226, the processing resource 8 determines: p initial (1,1)=0 and p final (1,1)=30 p initial (2,3)=60 and p final (2,3)=90 The processing resource 8 also determines the total charge ΔQ(k) delivered to the battery over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, for each specific battery charging range, according to:

[0127]

number

[0128] Here, I avg (i,k) is the average battery charging current supplied to the battery over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, and T(i,k) is the duration of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, calculated according to the following equation:

[0129]

number

[0130] Here, tinitial (i,k) is the relative time value or time stamp corresponding to the first battery charging data point of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval, and t final (i,k) is the relative time value or timestamp that corresponds to the last battery charge data point of the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0131] In the example shown in Fig. 7, there are two specific battery charging ranges, namely battery charging ranges 1 and 3. Thus, in the example shown in Fig. 7, the processing resource 8 determines the total charge ΔQ(1) delivered to the battery over battery charging range 1 in the first battery charging interval according to:

[0132]

number

[0133] The total charge ΔQ(3) delivered to the battery over the battery charging range 3 in the second battery charging interval is determined according to:

[0134]

number

[0135] The processing resource 8 calculates an average battery charging current I supplied to the battery over the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval. avg (i, k) is calculated for each specific battery charge range according to the following formula:

[0136]

number

[0137] Here, I jis the battery charging current delivered to the battery corresponding to the j-th battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i,k indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all the battery charging history data points of the k-th battery charging range in the i-th battery charging interval, and N j (i,k) is the total number of battery charging history data points for the kth battery charging range in the ith battery charging interval.

[0138] In the example shown in FIG. 7, there are two specific battery charging ranges, namely battery charging ranges 1 and 3, where battery charging range 1 is specific to a first battery charging interval and battery charging range 3 is specific to a second battery charging interval. For specific battery charging range 1, the processing resource 8 calculates an average battery charging current I avg (1,1) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0139]

number

[0140] Here, I j is the battery charging current supplied to the battery corresponding to the jth battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i=1,k=1 indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all battery charging history data points of battery charging range 1 in the first battery charging interval, and N j (1,1) is the total number of battery charging history data points in battery charging range 1 in the first battery charging interval.

[0141] Similarly, the processing resource 8 may calculate, for a specific battery charging range 3, an average battery charging current I supplied to the battery over the battery charging range 3 in the second battery charging interval. avg (2,3) is calculated according to the following formula.

[0142]

number

[0143] Here, I j is the battery charging current supplied to the battery corresponding to the jth battery charging history data point, ∀j∈i=2,k=3 indicates that the sum needs to be performed over all battery charging history data points of the battery charging range 3 in the second battery charging interval, and N j (2,3) is the total number of battery charging history data points in battery charging range 3 during the second battery charging interval.

[0144] Returning to step 210 shown in FIG. 5, in the example of FIG. 7, the processor 6 calculates the actual capacity estimate Q of the battery 4 for all battery charging ranges k=1, 2, 3. act The actual capacity of the battery, Q, is calculated by averaging (k) according to the following formula: act Estimate.

[0145]

number

[0146] It is known that the charging behavior of the battery 4 of the portable electronic device 2 is generally nonlinear, and the measurement accuracy of the battery charging information varies depending on the actual capacity Q act It is conceivable that the actual capacity of the battery 4 can vary over a whole range of fractional values. act By averaging (k) over the entire battery charging range, the actual capacity Q act The accuracy of the battery charge information can be averaged or reduced over the entire range of fractional values ​​of Q act It is also possible that the accuracy of the measurement of the battery charge information may vary depending on the usage of the portable electronic device 2 during charging. In this way, the estimate Q of the actual capacity of the battery 4 can be improved. actAveraging (k) over the battery charge range also helps to take into account any variations in the measurement accuracy of the battery charge information due to the usage of the portable electronic device 2 during charging, thereby estimating the actual capacity Q act This could help improve the accuracy of estimates of

[0147] When the processing resource 8 performs the battery depletion method, the processing resource 8 determines one or more battery status values ​​based at least in part on the battery depletion history data. Specifically, with reference to the description of the battery depletion history data in FIG. 3 above, the processing resource 8 determines the design capacity Q of the battery 4 from a battery statistics log file stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2. des , a lower limit min(ΣQ) of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period, and an upper limit max(ΣQ) of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period. The processing resource 8 then determines an average value of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period, avg(ΣQ), according to avg(ΣQ)=1 / 2·[min(ΣQ)+max(ΣQ)]. For the particular battery depletion data shown in Figure 3, this results in an average value of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period, avg(ΣQ), of 1 / 2·[4887+5427]=5157 mAh.

[0148] If the battery depletion history data includes the cumulative charge percentage decay Σp over the depletion period, the processing resource 8 may calculate the actual capacity Q of the battery 4. act A, Q act For the specific battery drain data shown in Figure 3, this results in Q act =5157×100 / 201=2566mAh.

[0149] The processing resource 8 then determines the ratio Q act / Q des And percentage 100×Q act / Q des And, W p =100×(1-Q act / Q des) the percentage wear value W p And, W f =1-Q act / Q des The fractional wear value W obtained according to f For the particular battery drain data shown in FIG. 3, this results in the processing resource 8 returning one or more of the quantities Q act / Q des =2566 / 2700=0.95, percentage 100×Q act / Q des = 95%, percentage wear value W p = 5%, or a fractional wear value of 0.05 W f Returns one or more of:

[0150] Returning to FIG. 4, following step 62, in step 64 the app 16 causes each determined battery status value to be displayed on the user interface 10 and / or causes the portable electronic device 2 to transmit each determined battery status value to the battery profiler server 24 or a further server (not shown in FIG. 1), such as a reporting server.

[0151] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications may be made to the above-described system and method without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. For example, a first alternative method may include an additional step performed between steps 58 and 60 of FIG. 4, in which the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 select an optimal one of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data 14 and information associated with each candidate method, where it is known that a battery state value determined using the optimal one of the one or more possible methods provides a more accurate representation of the state of the portable electronic device's battery than a battery state value determined using any other one of the possible methods. In this regard, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may select an optimal method from the one or more possible methods according to a priori knowledge of the accuracy of each possible method. For example, it is known that a battery state value determined using a battery cycle method is more accurate than a battery state value determined using a battery charge method, which in turn is more accurate than a battery state value determined using a battery depletion method. Thus, if the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 fetch the battery cycle method, the battery charging method, and the battery depletion method from the battery profiler database 26 and determine that each of the battery cycle method, the battery charging method, and the battery depletion method is capable of determining a corresponding battery status value based on the portable electronic device data 14, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may select the battery cycle method as the optimal method in preference to either the battery charging method or the battery depletion method.Similarly, if the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 fetches a battery cycle method, a battery charging method, and a battery depletion method from the battery profiler database 26 but determines that the battery cycle method does not have a corresponding battery state value that can be determined based on the portable electronic device data 14, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may select the battery charging method as the optimal method in preference to the battery depletion method. Furthermore, if the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 fetches a battery cycle method, a battery charging method, and a battery depletion method from the battery profiler database 26 but determines that neither the battery cycle method nor the battery charging method has a corresponding battery state value that can be determined based on the portable electronic device data 14, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may select the battery depletion method as the optimal method. Additionally, if the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 fetches a battery cycling method, a battery charging method, and a battery depletion method from the battery profiler database 26, but determines that none of the battery cycling method, the battery charging method, and the battery depletion method can have a corresponding battery status value determined based on the portable electronic device data 14, then the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 cannot select an optimal method or cannot determine a battery status value.

[0152] As described with reference to step 60 of FIG. 4 above, rather than sending instructions to the portable electronic device 2 to perform each of one or more of the possible methods, the first alternative method further includes the processing resource 24a of the battery profiler server 24 sending instructions to the portable electronic device 2 to perform only an optimal one of the possible methods, and performing the optimal one of the possible methods, thereby determining a corresponding battery status value.

[0153] In a variation of the first alternative method described above, rather than the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 performing the additional step between steps 58 and 60 of FIG. 4 of selecting the most appropriate one of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data 14 and information associated with each candidate method, the app 16 may perform the additional step at step 62 of FIG. 4 of selecting the most appropriate one of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data 14 and information associated with each candidate method.

[0154] In a second alternative method, the information associated with each candidate method that processing resources 24a of battery profiler server 24 fetches from battery profiler database 26 in step 56 of Figure 4 includes a corresponding battery condition threshold, and an additional step is performed that includes comparing each determined battery condition value with the corresponding battery condition threshold and determining whether the battery condition complies or does not comply with a predetermined battery condition test according to the result of the comparison. The additional step may be performed, for example, by processing resources 24a of battery profiler server 24 between steps 58 and 60 of Figure 4, or the additional step may be performed by app 16 in step 62 of Figure 4.

[0155] Figures 8A and 8B together illustrate a combination of the first and second alternative methods described above. In particular, Figure 8A illustrates pseudo-code instructions executed by the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 to perform an additional step between steps 58 and 60 of Figure 4 of selecting an optimal one of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data 14 and information related to each candidate method. Figure 8B illustrates pseudo-code instructions executed by the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 to perform an additional step between steps 58 and 60 of comparing one of the determined battery condition values ​​with a corresponding battery condition threshold value and determining, in step 62 of Figure 4, whether the battery condition complies or does not comply with a predetermined battery condition test according to the comparison result. Specifically, FIG. 8B shows pseudocode instructions executed by the battery profiler server 24 to compare the determined battery cycle count value “Battery_Cycle” with a corresponding battery condition threshold “cycle_threshold” and determine whether the battery condition is “good” or “bad” according to the comparison result.

[0156] 4 , the app 16 extracts battery performance history data from the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 and transmits the battery performance history data to the battery profiler server 24. Specifically, the app 16 extracts a battery cycle information file stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 and a battery statistics log file stored in the memory 6 of the portable electronic device 2 and transmits the battery cycle information file and the battery statistics log file to the battery profiler server 24.

[0157] In a fourth alternative, rather than the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 sending instructions to the portable electronic device 2 to perform one or more of the possible methods and the app 16 performing one or more of the possible methods to determine one or more corresponding battery state values, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may perform one or more of the possible methods to determine one or more corresponding battery state values ​​and the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may send the one or more corresponding battery state values ​​to the portable electronic device 2. In such an approach, any need for the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 to send any instructions to the portable electronic device 2 to perform one or more of the possible methods may be avoided. In a variation of the fourth alternative, the processing resources 24a of the battery profiler server 24 may execute some of the instructions to perform each one or more of the possible methods at the battery profiler server 24 and the app 16 may execute some of the instructions to perform each one or more of the possible methods at the portable electronic device 2.

[0158] A fifth alternative is i. a user installing an application on a portable electronic device; ii. the application accessing available portable electronic device data stored on the portable electronic device and available battery data stored on the portable electronic device via an API; iii. the application sending the available portable electronic device data and the available battery data to a cloud server; iv. the cloud server comparing the received portable electronic device data and the received battery data with information held in a database to identify an optimal (e.g., most accurate) battery state estimation method based on the make, model, and Android® OS version of the portable electronic device, and the battery data; v. instructions for performing the identified battery state estimation method are downloaded from the cloud server to the portable electronic device, and the instructions are executed to estimate the battery state. The sixth alternative is i. a user installing the app on an Android device; ii. the app is launched; iii. the app fetches the Android® device manufacturer, model, and OS version, as well as the battery design capacity, from an Android® API; iv. the app fetching battery cycle information from a battery cycle information file stored on the Android device, and fetching battery depletion logs and battery current information from a battery statistics log file stored on the Android device; v. the app uploading the battery cycle, battery drain log, and battery current information to a battery profile cloud; vi. A step including a list of ways in which the battery profile cloud calculates battery life based on device information received from the app; vii. determining or selecting a methodology that the battery profile cloud will use to calculate battery life; viii. the battery profile cloud sending the selected battery life calculation methodology and any required thresholds to the Android® device; ix. the app calculating battery life and / or determining battery grade or condition parameters using the selected battery life calculation method and any necessary thresholds; x. the app displays the calculated battery life and / or battery rating or status parameters on a user interface of the Android® device; xi. The app uploading the calculated battery life and / or battery rating or condition parameters along with the manufacturer, model, and OS of the Android® device to a report cloud.

Claims

1. 1. A method for use in determining a state of a battery in a portable electronic device, comprising: receiving, at a server, portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; receiving, at the server, information relating to each of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method being representative of the state of the battery of the portable electronic device; determining whether any of the plurality of candidate methods are capable of determining the corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device and the information associated with each candidate method; in response to determining that one or more of the plurality of candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, performing the one or more of the possible methods to thereby determine the one or more corresponding battery state values; Determining whether any of the plurality of candidate methods is capable of determining the corresponding battery state value includes: comparing a set of input parameters required for each of the plurality of candidate methods to a set of stored parameter values ​​stored in a memory of a portable electronic device having the same portable electronic device data as the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; and if the set of input parameters matches the set of stored parameter values, identifying a candidate method corresponding to the stored set of input parameters as one or more possible methods for determining the corresponding battery condition value. method.

2. The portable electronic device data includes at least one of a manufacturer, a model, an operating system, and a version of the operating system of the portable electronic device, and optionally data relating to the battery of the portable electronic device; The design capacity Q of the battery ｄｅｓ and, the make and / or model of the battery of the portable electronic device; Battery performance history data; and at least one of:

3. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, comprising extracting battery performance history data from the portable electronic device data, from a battery cycle information file stored on the portable electronic device, or from a battery statistics log file stored on the portable electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device to the server.

5. 5. The method of claim 1, comprising running an app on the portable electronic device to extract the portable electronic device data from data stored on the portable electronic device and to transmit the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device to the server.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information relating to each candidate method includes instructions for performing each candidate method.

7. transmitting instructions from said server to said portable electronic device to perform each one or more of said possible methods; executing, on the portable electronic device, the instructions for performing each one or more of the possible methods; The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising:

8. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting an optimal method of the one or more possible methods based at least in part on the portable electronic device data and the information associated with each candidate method; and performing the optimal method, thereby determining a corresponding battery status value, wherein the battery status value determined using the optimal one of the one or more possible methods is found to provide a more accurate representation of the status of the battery of the portable electronic device than a battery status value determined using any other one of the possible methods.

9. transmitting instructions from the server to the portable electronic device for performing the optimal one of the one or more possible methods; executing, on the portable electronic device, the instructions for performing the optimal one of the one or more possible methods; The method of claim 8 , comprising:

10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information relating to each candidate method includes a corresponding battery condition threshold, the method comprising: comparing each determined battery condition value with the corresponding battery condition threshold and determining whether the battery condition value complies or does not comply with a predetermined battery condition test according to a result of the comparison.

11. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein receiving the information relating to each candidate method of the plurality of candidate methods comprises fetching the information relating to each candidate method from a database to the server.

12. updating or modifying the information in the database relating to one or more of the candidate methods; or storing information relating to one or more additional candidate methodologies in the database, each of the one or more additional candidate methodologies being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method being representative of the state of the battery of the portable electronic device; The method of claim 11 , comprising:

13. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising making each determined battery state value available to the portable electronic device by displaying each determined battery state value on the portable electronic device, and / or transmitting each determined battery state value from the portable electronic device to the server and / or to a further server.

14. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery performance history data includes a battery cycle count value representative of a number of full discharge / charge cycles associated with the battery of the portable electronic device, the method including returning the battery cycle count value as at least one of the determined battery condition values.

15. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein battery performance history data includes battery charging history data, and the method includes determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery charging history data.

16. the battery charging history data includes time information and battery charging status information, the method including using the time information and the battery charging status information to identify one or more battery charging intervals during which the battery was charged; The battery charging history data includes a plurality of battery charging history data points for each battery charging interval, each battery charging history data point including time information, battery charging current information, and battery charging information; the time information includes a relative time value or a timestamp; the battery charging current information includes a value of a charging current supplied to the battery; The battery charge information includes the current or actual capacity Q ａｃｔ the current or actual capacity Q of the battery, expressed as a fraction or as a percentage ａｃｔ Contains fractional values ​​of The method further comprises: identifying one or more battery charging ranges in each of the one or more battery charging intervals; The current or actual charge capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ The estimated value Q ａｃｔ (k) for each battery charging range, where k is the current or actual capacity Q of the battery in the battery charging range. ａｃｔ the fractional values ​​being indexes assigned to each battery charge range according to the numerical order in which they occur; For all of the battery charge ranges, an estimate Q of the current or actual capacity of the battery ａｃｔ (k) is averaged according to the following formula to obtain the current or actual capacity Q ａｃｔ Estimate [0010] Here, N ｋ is the total number of battery charge ranges, The current or actual capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on 16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

17. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein battery performance history data includes battery depletion history data, and the method includes determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on the battery depletion history data.

18. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the battery depletion history data includes a lower limit min(ΣΔQ) of accumulated charge consumed over a depletion period, the depletion period being defined as the period of time elapsed since a last full charge of the battery of the portable electronic device, and the method includes determining an average value avg(ΣΔQ) of the accumulated charge consumed over the depletion period according to avg(ΣΔQ)=½·[min(ΣΔQ)+max(ΣQΔ)].

19. The battery depletion history data includes a cumulative charge percentage degradation ΣΔp over the depletion period, and the method further comprises: The actual capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ A, Q ａｃｔ =avg(ΣΔQ)×100 / ΣΔp; The current or actual capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ or determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on The battery depletion history data includes a cumulative charge fractional depletion ΣΔf over the depletion period, and the method further comprises: The actual capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ A, Q ａｃｔ =avg(ΣΔQ) / ΣΔf; The current or actual capacity Q of the battery ａｃｔ and determining one or more of the battery condition values ​​based at least in part on:

20. One or more of the battery condition values ​​are Ratio Q ａｃｔ / Q ｄｅｓ and, Percentage 100 x Q ａｃｔ / Q ｄｅｓ and, W ｐ = 100 × (1-Q ａｃｔ / Q ｄｅｓ ) The percentage wear value W ｐ and, W ｆ = 1 - Q ａｃｔ / Q ｄｅｓ The fractional wear value W obtained according to ｆ and, 20. The method of claim 16 or claim 19, further comprising returning one or more of the quantities:

21. 21. The method of any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the portable electronic device comprises or runs an Android operating system, such as Android Marshmallow version 6.0-6.0.1, Android Nougat version 7.0-7.1.2, Android Oreo version 8.0-8.1, or Android P version 9.

22. An app which, when executed on a portable electronic device, causes the method of any one of claims 1 to 21 to be performed.

23. Instructions to a server for use in determining the state of a battery of a portable electronic device, the instructions, when executed by a processing resource of the server, cause the server to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

24. 1. A server for use in determining a battery state of a portable electronic device, the server comprising: a processing resource; and when executed by the processing resource, the processing resource: receiving portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; receiving information relating to each of a plurality of candidate methods, each candidate method being configured to determine a corresponding battery state value, the battery state value corresponding to each candidate method being representative of the state of the battery of the portable electronic device; determining whether any of the plurality of candidate methods are capable of determining the corresponding battery state value based at least in part on the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device and the information associated with each candidate method; in response to determining that one or more of the plurality of candidate methods are capable of determining one or more corresponding battery state values, cause the one or more possible methods to be performed, thereby determining the one or more corresponding battery state values; Determining whether any of the plurality of candidate methods is capable of determining the corresponding battery state value includes: comparing a set of input parameters required for each of the plurality of candidate methods to a set of stored parameter values ​​stored in a memory of a portable electronic device having the same portable electronic device data as the portable electronic device data from the portable electronic device; if the set of input parameters matches the set of stored parameter values, identifying a candidate method corresponding to the stored set of input parameters as one or more possible methods for determining the corresponding battery state value. server.

25. 25. A system comprising the server of claim 24 and a database storing the information relating to each candidate method of the plurality of candidate methods, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing resources of the server, cause the processing resources of the server to fetch the information relating to each candidate method of the plurality of candidate methods from the database.

Images